April: Day 28: Teaching 3: Venerable Memnon the Wonderworker

April: Day 28: Teaching 3:*
Venerable Memnon the Wonderworker
 
(On the Benefit of Remembering God)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Memnon the Wonderworker from his youth began to serve God. For his exemplary life in the monastery he was chosen as abbot and was granted the gift of working miracles, for which reason he was also called a Wonderworker. Once, in a dry and waterless desert, he brought forth a spring from the earth; several times he saved sailors from drowning; by a word he drove away locusts, and so on.

“Memnon” in Russian means mindful, a name which the Venerable one did not bear in vain, for he always remembered God, lived piously, and for this reason was also deemed worthy of the gift of working miracles.

II. Venerable Memnon, who always remembered God, teaches us also to remember God more often.

a) The remembrance of God preserves from sin. That which preserves a person from sin is exceedingly beneficial for him. Sin is a terrible thing: it disturbs the conscience, takes away joy, deprives of honor, kills the soul, casts a man into hell, eternally torments, burns, and afflicts the sinner; sin is more dangerous than a serpent, more dreadful than murderers, more fearful than a thousand deaths. How then should we not consider beneficial that which can preserve us from sin, from this cause of countless misfortunes? When a person remembers God, his mind is clearer, his conscience more sensitive, the fear of God stronger; and therefore his aversion to evil is more sincere, more lively, more constant. There is no doubt that with the remembrance of God is joined also the mysterious action of the grace of God, disposing and uplifting the soul to everything good, to everything holy. The earth, when the sun draws near, is enriched with the power to bring forth fruits; so the soul, through remembrance of God, draws near to God and feels a special impulse to bear the fruits of virtue. With clear and reverent remembrance of God, it is difficult and almost impossible to sin, while to do good is easy and sweet. The Prophet David, as a man, had an inclination to sin. What then did he do, what did he use, what did he undertake in order to triumph over his sinful inclinations, to preserve himself from sin? “I foresaw the Lord before me always… that I might not be moved” (Ps. 15:8), that is, I never let God depart from my thoughts, so that passions might not overcome me, so that sin might not draw me into the abyss of destruction. Therefore, the remembrance of God is very necessary for a person as a means guarding him from sin.

b) The remembrance of God often brings a sinner back to the path of virtue. The remembrance of God is beneficial for the righteous and the innocent, but for those sunk in the abyss of vices it constitutes the chief and even the only good from which the turning of life from the path of vice to the path of virtue may begin. How many sinners, remembering God, sighed over their unworthiness, felt disgust toward sins, a movement toward repentance, completely changed, turned to God, and became holy. The Gospel parable of the prodigal son serves as proof of this. In this parable is presented a great sinner — corrupt, disordered, having lost everything good. What then? As soon as this unfortunate one remembered his Heavenly Father — remembered God — immediately after this first thought there arose in his soul a tender thought of the mercy of God, of God’s compassion toward men; and the soul, as if awakening from the sleep of delusion, is strengthened, tears itself from the bonds of sin, and turns to God. If this sinner had not thought of God, he would surely have perished forever in the abyss of sin. A ray of gracious thought about God showed him the path leading from hell to heaven, leading to salvation. Sinner, whoever you are and whatever you are like, remember God as often as possible, and this remembrance of God will not remain without fruit for your unhappy soul! Who knows, perhaps your soul, which has not awakened from the sleep of sin through any terrible voices of a troubled conscience, ruined health, poverty, humiliation, loss of loved ones, and other grievous afflictions of life, will awaken at the gentle light of a quiet thought of God, just as one deeply asleep is not awakened by thunder, but easily rises and leaves his bed at the sight of the soft, beautiful rays of the sun rising in a calm spring sky.

III. Therefore, brethren, keeping in mind the spiritual benefit that comes from remembering God, let us, at least out of love for the salvation of our soul, remember God in all our words and deeds, in holiness and in sin, in joy and in sorrow; and if, through weakness, we forget Him, let us strive quickly to come out of this forgetfulness and turn to God both with mind and with heart. Amen.

 

(Compiled from “Sermons and Discourses” of Jacob (Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas), Part 1, 4th edition, 1853.)

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.  
 
Notes: 
 
* In the original book, this text is placed under April 29th (Teaching  2), due to this Saint being commemorated in the Slavic calendar on that date, but in this English translation it is placed under April 28th, since this is his feast day in the Greek calendar.